YOUNGSTOWN — A federal grant will allocate $125,000 to the Youngstown Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Communities Support and Outreach Program (YUMADAOP) to fund its Drug-Free Communities Support Program.

The grant is being administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on behalf of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, an agency that coordinates America’s drug policy to improve the health of the nation.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Howland, announced funding in August.

“Too many families have felt the pain of addiction, and these federal investments are critical to preventing substance abuse in our communities. As the co-chair of the House Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus, I commend the YUMADAOP for their continued commitment to this important work to ensure that our families in Youngstown and the Mahoning County receive the resources and treatment support they need,” Ryan said in a news release.

Director of YUMADAOP Darryl Alexander said, “We looked at a number of areas and saw there were some things regarding drug overdose statistics that needed assessment,”

In the Mahoning Valley, Youngstown is responsible for 56 percent of emergency visits for overdoses or withdrawal, according to statistics from the Mahoning County Department of Health.

So far in 2022, 72 percent of overdose deaths in Youngstown can be attributed to fentanyl, while cocaine accounted for 37 percent, 16 percent related to alcohol and 3 percent being opioid related.

Three ZIP codes: 44505, the Liberty-Youngstown area (71), 44509, the West Side of Youngstown (51), and 44502, Youngstown (38) were among the highest areas in Mahoning County for emergency calls related to overdoses.

Prevention programming will be at the core of what YUMADAOP wants to do. Alexander said they plan on utilizing evidence-based prevention strategies to reduce the amount of young people who transition into adulthood and later require treatment services.

To give an idea of what this will look like, Alexander focused on opioids. He said what they do allows them to administer training to prescribers to learn the best prescribing practices as to not overmedicate patients.

By educating them and community members that could become patients he said, “It helps the everyday person get the best information to slow the risk of opioid addiction.”

“Part of it is making sure you dispose of meds properly, making sure you’re not sharing medication. We need to protect ourselves and make wise choices, ask your physician for alternatives to opioids that help people manage their pain,” he said.

The increased funding also allows the organization to increase its presence at community events where they’ll provide training on how to use Narcan and apply Question, Persuade and Refer — a suicide intervention and prevention tactic.

Using the funding YUMADAOP also will seek to relaunch Safe Homes, a program Alexander said allows residents to pledge they are a safe home where alcohol and marijunna will not be accessed by youth and also for residents with firearms to pledge weapons will be managed safely in the home.

A yearly youth leadership event will receive the funding. That event is hosted in May during National Prevention Week and the organization will draw from Youngstown students to provide them a forum where they can develop leadership and conflict mediation skills.

In addition, YUMADAOP will put the money toward its “Too Good for Violence” social perspective curriculum for 6th- and 8th-grade students. It will address the risks and protective factors related to conflict resolution, bullying, anger management and respect for self and others. Alexander said this will be achieved through developing the social and emotional learning skills of participants.

A few Youngstown schools already have participated in the program, including St. Joseph the Provider School on the North Side and Paul C. Bunn Elementary near the Boardman border, with plans to expand in the future.

“During these meetings, an adult facilitator will teach and empower the youth on skills to reduce risk to avoid substance abuse,” Alexander said.